The mood of a verb tells us how the action is viewed or perceived by the speaker. It indicates whether something is a fact, wish, opinion, command, suggestion, request, hypothesis (imaginary situation), or uncertainty. The tense of a verb generally indicates when an action occurred.
In Italian, there are four finite moods (indicative, conditional, subjunctive and imperative) and three indefinite moods (infinitive, participle and gerund). Each mood has more than one tense, except the imperative that only has a present tense. The tenses are simple or compound. Simple tenses are made removing the infinitive endings (-are, -ere, -ire) and adding the endings for the corresponding subject. Compound tenses are made of an auxiliary verb (to be or to have) and the past participle.
| Simple tense | Compound tense |
|---|---|
| Indicative | |
| presente | passato prossimo |
| io amo | io ho amato |
| - description of a situation in the present - action in the present - habitual action in the present - future action - facts that are always true | - completed action in the past that still affects the present |
| imperfetto | trapassato prossimo |
| io amavo | io avevo amato |
| - description of a situation in the past - habitual action in the past - action that was taking place when another action occurred in the past | - action that took place before another action in the past |
| passato remoto | trapassato remoto |
| io amai | io ebbi amato |
| - completed action in the past detached from the present - literary language | - action that took place before another action in the past (literary language) |
| futuro semplice | futuro anteriore |
| io amerò | io avrò amato |
| - action in the future - promise - prediction - supposition | - supposition about a completed action - action that will have been completed before another action in the future |
| Conditional | |
| presente | passato |
| io amerei | io avrei amato |
| - request (to ask politely) - wish - suggestion - unconfirmed information | - wish in the past - unconfirmed information in the past - future action from a past viewpoint |
| Subjunctive | |
| presente | passato |
| che io ami | che io abbia amato |
| imperfetto | trapassato |
| che io amassi | che io avessi amato |
| - wish - doubt - exhortation - dependent clauses: - I demand that everyone have an opportunity to speak > chiedo che tutti abbiano la possibilità di parlare - I wish you were here > vorrei che fossi qui | |
| Imperative | |
| presente | |
| ama tu | |
| - give an order, advice, instructions | |
| Infinitive | presente | passato |
| amare | avere amato |
| - after modal and other verbs - dependent clauses - negative imperative | |
| Gerund | presente | passato |
| amando | avendo amato |
| - progressive tenses (stare + gerund) - dependent clauses | |
| Participle | |
| Participio presente | |
| amante | |
| - mainly used as an adjective or a noun | |
| Participio passato | |
| amato | |
| - compound tenses - passive voice - dependent clauses - also used as an adjective or a noun | |